China, ancient kilns and modern ceramics : a guide to the potteries

Abstract

This is the first book about Chinese ceramics written by an Australian in co-operation with a long-time resident of China. Wanda Garnsey, through her long friendship with Rewi Alley, had access to up-to-date information not readily available to others. The book describes the search for historical facts relating to the long and sustained cultural growth of the Chinese people now being undertaken in China and the continuing manufacture of objects of beauty. Since 1949, when the Government of the People's Republic of China was proclaimed, extensive efforts have been made to preserve the antiquities that remain in the many tombs scattered over the countryside. Chinese archaeologists have laboured hard to annotate everything of value that has been discovered either in the course of construction work or in deliberate excavation. Cultural relics may no longer be exported without the consent of the Chinese government, and this book, with its many photographs, gives a glimpse of the great wealth of ceramics, both ancient and modern, that is part of the Chinese cultural tradition.